Attentional coping style in obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: a test of the intolerance of uncertainty hypothesis

We tested the hypothesis that individuals with elevated levels of obsessive-compulsive personality traits exhibit a compromised ability to tolerate uncertainty. This hypothesis was tested by examining attentional coping style in the face of an ego-threatening event. The Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 (PDQ-4) was administered to a pool of undergraduate students in order to recruit an obsessive-compulsive personality (OC) group (n=60), a normal control (NC) group (n=60), and an avoidant personality (AV) group (n=40). Both self-report and observational measures of information-seeking/avoidance were obtained during a laboratory procedure in which participants completed a cognitive ability test. As predicted, the OCPD group (1) spent more time listening to information about the test prior to taking the test, (2) spent less time listening to music prior to taking the test, (3) tended to indicate that they wanted to know their test score more often, and (4) reported significantly higher levels of dispositional monitoring, relative to the two control groups. In addition, self-reported degree of dispositional monitoring was positively correlated with severity of OCP symptoms but not with AVP symptoms. Results provided partial support for the hypotheses of an elevated degree of information-seeking behavior in OCPD.